The year 2020 is truly unforgettable and it could be the worst that we had in recent memory, all because of Covid-19.
The Coronavirus disease (Covid) started in 2019 but its effects were generally felt last year.
Hence, it is not surprising that most of the stories about the disease dominated the top 12 news items published by The Bohol Tribune last year.
As we start the new year, we look back and remember the stories that caused a huge impact in our society and in our lives; and as we start a new year, we should look forward to better times and with renewed optimism that everything will return to normal.
As the year 2020 dictated the human mind to remember its events, we present here the top 12 stories of the year as culled by The Bohol Tribune.
12. ERC to Guv: DUs will get full refund
This is one of the few stories included in the top 12 stories of 2020 that is not directly linked or associated with the Covid pandemic.
The story was all about the decision of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to release the full refund of the excess fee collected as a result of the erroneous computation of the net settlement surplus (NSS).
Back in June 2019, the Boholano electric consumers complained of high electricity bills. First district Cong. Edgar Chatto and Gov. Arthur Yap, made a strong move to find out the cause of the high electricity cost.
The duo was successful in bringing down the electricity cost, for now.
The end result of the efforts of the two (2) government officials was the refund of the excess fees that were channeled to the distribution utilities (DU).
11. Yap, Tutor bare stand on CCH
This is another story that is non-Covid related but generated a lot of buzz last year.
Gov. Yap and third district Rep. Kristine Alexie Tutor bared their respective positions on the proposal to re-nationalize the Candijay Community Hospital (CCH).
The Bohol Tribune published Tutor’s position as well as Yap’s outlook on the proposed re-nationalization of CCH.
The solon’s bill to re-nationalize CCH was passed by the House health committee, and slated for second reading in the House, but the support of the provincial government is a critical element for the success of the bill.
However, Yap said he would agree to the re-nationalization of the said hospital only if the Department of Health would execute a written statement accepting the CCH back to the latter’s fold.
10. Bohol opens doors to individual tourists, on Tues., Dec. 15
After several months of tourism shut down, Bohol slowly reopens its doors to individual tourists, in a bid to revive tourism here.
After experimenting on only allowing tourists attending meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibition events, the provincial government deemed it fit that it is high time to allow individual travelers to visit Bohol.
This story made the list as it provided a glimmer of hope to the heavily-impacted tourism industry to bounce back albeit slowly.
9. Bohol tourism to shine in Phitex
About 78% of Bohol’s economy is dependent on tourism, according to the data from the provincial government.
It is a welcome news that the Department ot Tourism (DOT) made an effort to help the province in reviving the tourism industry and the first step towards the resurgence was through the conduct of the Philippine Travel Exchange (Phitex) here in Sept. 2020.
The Phitex acted as Bohol tourism’s silver lining in the midst of uncertainty brought about by the pandemic.
8. Bohol mayors agree on uniform LSI, OFW &ROF arrival protocol
This news item was about how Bohol mayors agreed on a set of protocols governing the entry of the returning overseas Filipinos (ROF), locally stranded individuals (LSI) and overseas Filipino workers (OFW) into the province.
This story made itself to the top 12 because it is a step towards greater local government unit Independence when it came to accommodating the returning Boholanos.
7. Guv tells LTO, LTFRB: Arrest me, too, if you will arrest PUV drivers
With this story, Yap showed his brand of leadership when he defended the drivers of the public utility vehicles who were getting arrested by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) for having been unable to secure a special permit.
The governor allowed public utility vehicles to ply their usual routes even without the special permit from the LTFRB to benefit local commuters.
The governor asked the Department of Transportation (DoTR) to allow public utility vehicles to ply their routes even without the special permit. He was given the greenlight by the DoTR.
However, when the governor, despite the agreement with the DoTR, heard about the the arrest ot drivers for not having the special permit, he went ballistic.
In defending the drivers, he challenged those who were in charge of the arrest of drivers without special permit to arrest him, too.
The governor succeeded in his crusade as the arrests stopped allowing the public utility vehicles to ply their respective routes without further impediment.
6. Stricter security clamps down island barangays as Covid cases rise fast
This story is about stricter security imposed on island barangays as Covid cases rose speedily in at least two (2) islands located in the northern part of the province.
The number of Covid cases shot up in the islands of Guindacpan in Talibon and Malingin in Bien Unido.
The right intervention from health authorities and security forces eventually led to the islands being declared as Covid-free.
5. Bohol hopes to gain edge over Covid with 2 new labs here
The talk of having a testing lab as a means to control the spread of Covid surfaced here as early as March 2020.
It was widely believed that testing will help in finding those infected persons who need to be quarantined. At the same time, it would allow those who are not infected to return to work as the province tries to restart the economy.
Today, the province relies less on Cebu for testing as it now has a testing laboratory at the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital and a containerized laboratory owned by the provincial government.
4. NGCP’s Bohol-Cebu link presents a good chance
This is another non-Covid story that made it to the list.
This is the story that spoke of the chance of realizing the Bohol-Cebu submarine cable interconnection getting brighter after the officials of Maribojoc town relented and agreed in principle to host the cable link coming from Cebu and the transmission lines going to Corella and ultimately will distribute the electric power to Boholano consumers.
Maribojoc Mayor Romulo Manuta, first district Rep. Edgar Chatto together with Vice Mayor Emilio Castilla and Sangguniang Bayan (SB) members met to discuss with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) the future of the interconnection link, involving a submarine cable that will originate from Cebu and terminate in Maribojoc where a cable terminal station (CTS) will be located if plans will not miscarry.
This story gets a spot in the top 12 because it opens the opportunity to have more stable power supply for the province, which power needs are steadily rising.
3. Bohol is Covid
Infected now…but
On May 2020, the record of Bohol as a Covid-free province was put into question after the Department of Health (DOH) reported that there was a Covid-positive patient here.
The catch was the supposed Covid-positive patient was tested using the rapid antibody test, which is not the gold standard test.
Eventually, the Capitol asked the DOH to make a correction as the person tagged to be Covid-positive was not tested using the polymerase chain reaction test (PCR).
This story made to the top 12 stories of 2020 as it caused anxiety and fear among the public.
2. No to Oplan Exodus for now: BMS, LnB and Bohol netizens
Weeks after the closure of Bohol’s borders and decisively averting any entry of the virus into Bohol, a plan surfaced where LSI and returning OFW were to be allowed to enter Bohol.
The plan of allowing LSI and OFW to return was outlined in the so-called Oplan Exodus.
The plan was met with apprehension from the local population, including the doctors and the hierarchy of the Liga ng mga Barangay, thinking that opening a Covid-free Bohol to returning Boholanos may lead to an uncontrolled spread of the virus.
Bohol mayors relented to the plan to allow LSI and OFW to return, following orders coming from Malacañang.
In the last week of April 2020, the first batch of LSI arrived. This was followed by the arrival of the first batch of returning OFW in May 2020.
All returning LSI or OFW were subjected to a 14-day quarantine with testing to ensure they were Covid-free once they were allowed to return home.
1. Bohol is fast and firm to fight Covid
This is the biggest story of the year as it narrates the initial concrete steps to prevent the spread of the virus.
This story reveals the decisive and quick actions taken by Bohol’s provincial leaders to contain the spread of the virus.
The story mentions the actions of the governor to close down Bohol for five days initially and then extend the community quarantine as a measure to prevent a community transmission of the virus from happening.
Yap’s Executive Order No. 8 outlined a no-sail policy, locking down Bohol from the outside world.
This move paved the way to other actions seen as measures to prevent the spread of the virus such as mandatory face mask wearing and curfews to name a few.
We have just presented to you the top 12 stories of 2020. It is quite a challenge to choose only 12 stories out of a possible hundreds of stories published in The Bohol Tribune.
The stories that were featured here are the ones that created the most impact in our lives in 2020.